What benefits does FDA (the organization,not members) get from sponsorship? Do they donate money to be on our shirts, or do they just provide discounts. I have never, not once used an FDA discount, there are always better discounts out there...10% off? don't waste my time. I get a coupon book in the mail every week with b1g1, etc offers.

Now if there is more to it than that, or if it is about the FDA community, etc. then thats another story, but if it is mainly about the discounts received, then that aspect is pretty worthless to me.

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they do help with t-shirts and provide spaces for meetings for free (hog haus and grub's usually rent out their upstairs), and some donate stuff for the dan gabor raffle. and the food sponsorships don't seem like that much in savings (so we lost $1 off at damgoode and 70 cents off burritos), but if you buy a pair of shoes from mike or a bike from brosh or take your pet to earl, there's some good value there. and it's not just about the discounts, it's the idea of the businesses and the fda supporting each other.

Just so its understood, sponsorships are supposed to be MUTUALLY beneficial. Its not a "donation" if the sponsor benefits in increased patronage from the sponsored group's members. No offense to anyone here, but I'm sure for the $20,000 in donations from Tim's have been made back in the increased patronage the sponsorship generated over the years. If a sponsor's deals aren't good enough to make people come out to their place, that is a miscalculation on their part. The FDA takes its sponsors very seriously but cannot please everyone. For instance, Hog Haus has an excellent relationship with the FDA and enjoys it very much when we ultimate players come in or when we host events, no matter the size. They do not, however, hold any expectation that there is some quota of players coming and buying drinks each week.

Its frustrating to me because so much work gets put into this and all anyone can do is complain about how we lost this sponsor or that one, but then also hear that the deals aren't good enough, so nobody goes there.

In the end the members have to take the initiative to go to the sponsor's places and make purchases. If the members don't want to go there because the service is bad or the benefits of the sponsorship are not good enough then it is no long mutually beneficial so why would you want them to stay a sponsor? Likewise, if a sponsor becomes demanding and is asking for a lot from the FDA for a couple hundred dollars in T-shirt money, that is also no longer mutually beneficial.

Knowing the owner the of DamGoode, I'm not too surprised by the whole deal. His decisions are whimsical and not usually based on any form of business sense, of which he has little. I know one guy that got fired because another girl who works there, who he wanted to fuck, didn't like him. He was gone the next day. For those who remember the circumstances of Ramsey's leaving, which I wont make public, you know what kind of bullshit im talking about. Believe me when I say that the FDA was probably the least part of why he is pissed, and probably has to do with losing money from a series of terrible business decisions.

But we do have a history of royally fucking our sponsors. When I was in the EC, I dealt with trying to get sponsorships back because the year previous, many of the sponsors had been left out of the Dan Gabor program. Marlo's is a good example. They vowed never to talk to us again after that, and all it took was a huge free add in the program the next year, and reminding them how we buy 200-300 burritos every year at harvest, to get them back on board. Condom Sense said the same thing, and it took a personal promise from Joy and I that we would take care of it. We did the same thing, name in the program in big fat letters that said thanks for your support over the years, and they continued to donate the gift packages they usually put together for Dan Gabor. That's only the tip of the iceberg of the ones I dealt with.

My point is, if the FDA screws up then we should attempt to make amends, and it should definitely be mutually beneficial. If the sponsor doesn't want to make amends for something so small as meeting with bad turnout, they probably have something else going on so fuck em anyway.

Otherwise, guys, listen to Andy, he seems to have it figured properly. Appreciate the discounts (though small) that we do get and appreciate the sponsors by doing business with them. If at the end of the day we lose sponsors, which we will, don't get upset. Get more better sponsors that we actually want to do business with and that don't expect the world in return. We throw plastic, how much can they expect from us?

None of this applies to Tiny Tim's and John by the way. I'm not about to open that can of worms. That's a whole other fucked up post topic._________________Jon Champagne (Lil' Bubbles)
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-Faded, oh so faded. Like a memory gone, there's no recollection. - Ben Harper
-Friendship is like pissing your pants. Everyone can see it, but only you can feel its warmth.

I think the owner/manager likes me pretty well, he told me he wanted to get his coupons "out of the streets" and jacob and I have done our damndest to make that happen_________________This is not the signature you are looking for

Is this when Jacob asked for his discount when it wasn't given to him while he was sitting in the FDA meeting the entire time?

And this isnt personal to you Renata, unless you personally decided to drop the sponsorship, I feel as if this should have been told to, I dont know, the FDA president for him to relay to us? Not shooting the messenger._________________This is not the signature you are looking for

i think the basic economics of it is that the sponsors want to see an increase in customer base for their sponsorship of the FDA. So, the more you do to bring people in, the happier they'll be. Furthermore, to increase your discounts, you need to be in a position where businesses not only want to sponsor you but compete to sponsor you.

I would suggest that you attempt to track the business you can bring to a company and then work to increase it. If you can get 25% of the membership in one place at one time once a month, owners would be ecstatic. Make the first Saturday of the month lunch at Hog's Breath. The PR person could send out a mass email. If 20 people show up that'd be huge. Of maybe, instead, everyone bikes to Phat Tire and back. If you can show owners an increase in business they'll have greater incentive to remain sponsors._________________Hug it out, bitch.

It has been a while, but the way I remember those discounts is that they came on a card with each sponsor's logo. That being said and assuming the sponsor has the logo on the card, the sponsor is in the wrong, attitude or not. The FDA provides the sponsor's logo on its membership cards in exchange the sponsor providing the discount for the year. Further, the sponsor gets increased traffic and loyal customers. The FDA member pays to become a member expecting a certain discount, which the member does not get for the entire year.

If I am missing something here about what the sponsor gets, please let me know. This rattles my cage a bit because its not as if FDA members were not paying for their food, they just weren't buying ENOUGH food for the sponsor to find the discount beneficial, so the sponsor unilaterally elected to revoke its offer after it got the benefit of being on the card and increased traffic.